Electronic products, such as TVs, mobile phones, computers or portable music players, include at least one printed circuit board (PCB). Such PCBs are subjected to the processes of assembling and inspecting parts, such as electronic components, in a production line.
Barcode labels were used as an approach to manage the process of assembling electronic product PCBs (including the inspection process) in the related art. For instance, this method manages the entire processes including the assembly process by identifying barcodes printed on a barcode label using a scanner and updating the identified barcodes in a management server when one process is completed in the production line.
Describing the foregoing management method using barcode labels, there are restrictions in that the miniaturization of labels is limited, and that labels must be attached to positions where they can be exposed at any time to a scanner. In addition, scanning and processing time that reaches up to several tens of seconds can cause a time delay in the entire assembly process. If an electronic product PCB is small, for example, is slightly larger than or similar to the size of a label, there accompanied are troubles in that the barcode label must be detached for the purpose of the parts assembly process and be attached again when the corresponding process is finished. Therefore, the processing time must be increased. (The amount of the processing time that is uselessly spent can be estimated considering the number of assembly steps and that the assembly process is manually performed.)
In order to overcome the problem of the barcode system, several electronic product manufacturers introduced radio frequency identification (RFID) tags. As is known, the RFID tag is divided into an active tag and a passive tag depending on the presence of operating power. The active tag has limitations to miniaturization since it must include a power source (e.g. a battery). Accordingly, the passive tag which uses a radio wave radiated from an antenna of an RFID tag reader is widely used.
The passive tag basically includes a tag chip and an antenna. There are two methods of applying the passive tag to the above-mentioned electronic product PCB. One is to attach the RFID tag to the PCB like the barcode label, and the other one is to realize a passive tag in the electronic product PCB. The latter requires the electronic product PCB to be provided with an antenna pattern which is to be connected to the tag chip. This means a space corresponding to the size of the antenna is required in the PCB. It is difficult, however, to provide an antenna pattern space for the tag chip in a PCB of a small electronic product, for example, a portable phone.